Chasing the Stars

Chasing the Stars

By : Anushka

Chapter 1

The Move

    “Trinity, darling, come on, we’re about to leave!” Trinity’s mom had shouted. 

“Today is the day,” Trinity quietly whispered to herself, holding back many, many tears. She walked around her room that was decorated with everything she liked; stars, planets, meteors, anything that had to do with space. 

Her bed was shaped like a huge circle, nothing really special on the outside, but what’s under it is Trinity’s secret hideout. There’s a ladder and a tunnel leading to a small cave that Trinity had decorated and made into her little hideout. It was so hard for her to leave the special little place because of all the memories, memories of Trinity running home after a bad day at school into her little hideaway. She just couldn’t let it go. It was her home.

“Trinity!” her mom called again. 

“Coming!” Trinity shouted and began to gather her bags. “If it’s going to happen, it might as well be now,” Trinity said out loud to herself.

She began to walk down the steps onto the second floor until something stopped her. 

“Oh, I’m going to miss this place so much,” she quietly said. Trinity ran to her little cave and hugged it until tears flooded down her face.

Wet, wet tears. She took a paper and wrote neatly on it.

Good luck future person who lives here. You’ll need it.

From, the person who’s leaving it.

Trinity set it down in her hideaway and stood up. She wiped her tears as

she ran down the steps and met up with her older brother, mom, and dad. They all got into the car and began to leave.

“If I had friends, I’d probably be messaging them throughout the car ride. But I have none, so there’ll be none of that,” she said quietly. 

Her brother Tom normally doesn’t pay attention to Trinity, but he was bored out of his mind, so he was listening to stuff going on around him.

“You're saying you have no friends?” he whispered back to Trinity. 

“Um, have you not noticed till now? I never invite anyone over, I don’t talk about anyone, and you still don’t know?” Trinity asked angrily. She was mainly grumpy because they were moving, but this? This just added additional annoyance that her own brother doesn’t know about her own so-called life.

“Sorry, Miss Grumpy, but I didn’t know. It’s not like I want to pay attention to you anyway,” Tom said and began to stare out the window. Trinity sighed as she swept away a tear and looked out the window so he wouldn’t see.

He didn’t. No one should really have to know about my feelings anyway.

But then she felt something; a hand holding hers.

Trinity turned and was surprised to see Tom staring out but holding onto her. Bundled up in that annoying, older brother of hers is someone who surely still looks out for her.

Tom turned his head, smiled at her, then said, “We’ll survive whatever New York has to bring us.” Trinity felt her brother was speaking the truth, so she silently nodded. Trinity continued to stare out her window, looking at all the cars. Soon, she began to feel sleepy. She closed her eyes and set her head down onto the window. 

We’ll be there soon, so I can sleep a bit for now.

She slowly drifted into a nice, calm sleep. 

Moving could be hard and all, but I’ll adapt. I’ll be alright. 

Unfortunately, things don’t always go your way.

Chapter 2

New York

    New York looked beautiful from what Trinity had seen so far. Her parents said they were close to their new home, and they decided they might as well reach there instead of booking a hotel. It was close to 4 A.M, but Trinity didn’t care that it was pretty late. 

“It’s beautiful. The whole city I mean,” she said in amazement. 

“You think that’s amazing?” Tom started. “What about up there?” he asked, gesturing to the sky.

Trinity looked up and, to her surprise, she was awestruck. “You’re right. This is the most beautiful thing I’ve seen. So many stars. I bet with a telescope we could see all sorts of planets!”

“Sorry sis, you won’t be seeing anything here,” Tom began. Trinity frowned. 

“What do you mean?” she asked. 

“You’ll see when we get to our new home.”

A few minutes later, her dad stopped the car in front of a beautiful house. 

“This is ours?” Trinity asked. 

“You betcha!” her mom answered. Trinity got out of the car and explored their front yard. 

“It- it’s beautiful, but, but Tom, you mentioned something I’d see when we get-” Trinity began. Then she looked up to the sky. She was absolutely speechless. 

“Wow,” she managed to say a few moments later. Hundreds of stars, the moon so bright, much more amazing than back in the city. This was a much better view in fact. 

“It’s beautiful, but it’s really late. We better get in and do a little 

unpacking. Tomorrow we’ll start doing the real unpacking,” Trinity’s mom said as she pushed Tom and Trinity inside.

Trinity’s dad stayed back to get a few of their suitcases full of clothes. The truck with their other huge and delicate stuff was delayed and wasn’t coming till Saturday afternoon, therefore her family needed all their other stuff settled inside before the big things came.

Trinity walked around the house and started to feel out of place. Tom looked at her, gave a weak smile and said, “You’ll get used to it.” 

“I hope you’re right. I really miss Pittsburgh.” 

“Here, let's pick our rooms,” Tom said, starting up the stairs. Trinity sighed and followed her older brother.

“Woah, this room is huge!” Trinity said in excitement. “This is definitely mine!”

“Okay, so that’s settled. That makes the other room mine. Mom said there’s not much stuff here, so we’ll be going shopping. I would suggest getting some sleep if you want to be able to wake up tomorrow,” Tom said with a yawn, entering his room. 

Trinity wanted to fix up her bedroom, decorate it, and make it completely hers since she felt like the odd one out, but she was so tired she couldn’t do anything. She set up a little blanket bed next to a window and fell right asleep.

Trinity’s sleep didn’t last long since she woke up four hours later with the sun blazing brightly.

“What time is it?” Trinity said groaning as she began to get up with the sun alongside.

“It’s morning, that’s what time it is!” she heard her mom say.

Trinity wanted to just curl up into a ball and go back to sleep, but today was an exciting day. The house was going to finally become “their” house.

“I’m coming!” Trinity excitedly said as she glided down the steps.

She ran down the stairs and found her brother Tom enjoying a waffle. 

“Morning, sis,” he said as he eagerly chomped down his breakfast.

    “Good morning, Tom!” Trinity answered as she sat down on furniture she didn’t remember seeing before.

“When did this all come?”

“Oh, the truck came by earlier this morning,” her dad answered.

“That’s good,” she began, but then, all of a sudden, a thought beamed brightly in her brain.

“Furniture! If it’s here…,” she yelled, quickly finished her breakfast, and began looking around the house for something.

“Woah, woah, woah. Calm down. What in the world are you looking for Trin?” Tom asked gently, holding his hands out to her.

“If the furniture is here, shouldn’t all my posters be here? I put them in the truck because I didn’t want them to become crooked,” Trinity said.

Her brother gave her an expression that seemed to say, they can’t be missing, and began looking too. He knew how hard it was for Trinity to move, but, on top of that, to not have her space-themed belongings? That was tragic to her.

“I don’t see it anywhere!” Trinity said, angrily.

“We’ll find it, or you could get new ones. Don’t act like a little baby, sis…,” but, from the second Tom said that, he regretted it. Trinity wanted to get mad but felt he was right. 

“Okay, I guess me loving planets, space, stars, anything up in the night sky isn’t that important,” she mumbled.

Tom hugged her and began to say something, but then decided not to. She walked to her room and sat down on her blanket on the floor.

“He doesn’t know why they’re so special to me,” she said under her breath with a sigh. “I’m sorry, Mrs. Sal! I lost the beautiful posters you gave me as your “star” student,” Trinity began, giggling a little at the memory of one of her favorite teachers. “You helped me see my love for space. Now you won’t even be teaching me anything.” 

Trinity’s eyes began to shed tears, and this time she let them out. It was the first time she had let herself be sad since the move to New York.

Instinct took over, which made her feel like she was being rather childish. She wiped her tears away in frustration and went back down to the rest of her family.

“Mom, we’re going shopping,” Trinity said firmly.

“Of course, Trinity. Maybe we can all go. Explore the town. Buy things to decorate our house,” her mom said, winking at Trinity afterwards.

They all left the house, except her dad who was fixing up Trinity and Tom’s bedrooms as a surprise. Trinity, her mom, and Tom all got into the car and started to drive around.

“A store!” Tom happily said, like a little kid pointing towards a shop.

“Look, it says, ‘We have anything you need! Grocery to medicine, paint to decorations for a room or party! We’re open!’ It seems this shop is open,” said Trinity, reading the title as she rolled her eyes and chuckled.

They entered the store and started browsing shelves, looking for food. Trinity made sure to keep an eye out for space-themed wallpaper and decorations.

“Hey, Trin, those look like planets, and, um, other things that you really like,” Tom said, picking up one of the little bags stuffed with different decorations.

“You’re right!” Trinity said loudly, nabbing it out of Tom’s hands.

Four kids turned to stare at Trinity but then quickly looked away and started whispering.

“Tom, can you come here with the list?” Trinity’s mom asked.

“Coming,” Tom answered, and with that he went into the grocery section.

The four girls then walked up to Trinity and didn’t even bother to say “Hi.”

“Why are you so weird?” a tall, not-so-polite girl asked Trinity.

“Um, I don’t think I’m weird. Wh-why do you say so?” Trinity answered, stumbling on the last few words. Her insides were shaking.

“Which school do you go to? I don’t remember seeing you before,” another girl added. She had beautiful blonde hair and a locket with the name “Lucy” engraved on it.

Trinity was nervous with what was going on, but she answered the question anyway.

“I’m new here. I just moved in from Pittsburgh to Greenport. The school here’s called Greenport Middle School, I think. I’ll be attending there, or that’s what my mom said...”

“So you’re a new freak in the school. Whatever. Just remember, stay out of my path, and you’ll survive school. Got it?” the tall girl asked. Trinity heard murmurs of acceptance of what the tall girl had just said. 

She heard Lucy say, “Nice one Jen!”

Trinity nodded slightly.

This Jen person doesn’t seem very nice.

She ran towards her mom and Tom, and carried on her shopping with them. But one little thought lingered in her mind: Will Jen try to ruin my life in middle school?

Chapter 3

Seventh Grade

Trinity was holding onto her backpack as she walked into a school crowded with people. Everyone was talking, texting, or anything else that included other people and friends.

“It’s the first day. The first day, the very first day of seventh grade,” she said.

Trinity began walking around, trying not to bump into anyone. She held her schedule high enough to read it quietly to herself.

“First period is English in room 221. Where is that?” she asked herself.

“Hey, watch where you’re going!” a kid yelled at her.

“Sorry, but I don’t remember bumping into you though...” 

She looked up and saw that the person was someone she recognized.

“Jen.”

“I said stay out of my path. This is my hallway and it’s not meant for star weirdos,” Jen said.

“I’m not a weirdo. What’s wrong with you? What’s wrong in liking space?” Trinity fired back.

“It’s weird! You're weird! Space is a simple subject, and I’m pretty sure the people who are obsessed with it as much as you seem to be, are probably aliens who are pretty weird. So are you an alien?”

Trinity answered nothing. Jen had gotten lots of students’ attention by now. She was popular it seemed, and everyone assumed she was right. Trinity felt tears in her eyes, so she simply ran through all the kids down the hall.

“Phew, finally, room 221,” Trinity said, entering her English classroom. 

She quietly walked in and was greeted by a teacher who notioned her to 

sit down at an empty seat.

“Okay, class, we have a new student, Trinity Shwartz. Now let’s start our assignment. You should have finished writing your essay last night,” her

English teacher said.

“That was a lame welcome. What’s the teacher’s name?” Trinity mumbled.

She lifted her schedule and read the English teacher’s name.

“Mrs. Quin,” Trinity said quietly to herself and started paying attention to the grammar lesson.

Before she knew it, English was almost over. It seemed like a class she could attend happily. Everything was going fine until Mrs. Quin dismissed class and left the room to pick up papers from the printer. Trinity was picking up her stuff when she felt something hit her back. She turned around and found a crumpled piece of paper.

“YOU’RE A FREAK!!! Go back to where you came from, Infinity!” Trinity read, getting quieter and quieter by the second. She heard snickers coming from the back of the room.

“I’m not letting a couple of people ruin my whole day,” she said, walking up to the kids. “Why are you people being so weird? I get to this school, and on my very first day, people make fun of me for liking space. It’s stars! They’re. Beautiful!”

“Maybe they’re beautiful, but you, you’re not at all. Have you seen yourself in a mirror? You look like an alien too! No wonder you like galaxies so much. You were born on Mars probably!” Jen said, laughing in disgust at Trinity. 

Trinity was quiet and didn’t know what to say. She felt heartbroken, mad, and sad. Though, she had to admit, she agreed a bit too. Trinity felt like it wasn’t fair for them to pick on her just because she wasn’t like everyone else. No one should ever be treated like this.

“You’re wrong! Maybe I should look at myself in the mirror, and when I do, I’ll lend it to you! You need a mirror for your words, so that right when you say them they bounce right back onto you! Then you’ll feel the hurtful stuff you say to people!” Trinity said angrily, pointing her finger at Jen and almost stabbing her in the face. She ran out of the room to her next period, hoping that this was the end to Jen’s cruel behavior.

It was just the beginning…

Chapter 4

The First Sign

    “So how was your first day of school?” Trinity’s mom asked when Trinity sat down at the kitchen table. She didn’t know what to tell her mom. Should she mention everyone staring at her or Jen and her gang?

“It was good. The teachers all are pretty great and helped me catch up mostly,” she answered simply. It was true. “I got some work to do for school, so I, um, can be all the way caught up. So I’ll go up and do that!” Trinity said, and started up the stairs in a running motion, not looking back to see if her mom was saying anything.

She exhaled deeply and sat on her new bed. Her room was big and nice. But it wasn’t the same as Pittsburgh. She longed to go back, but there was no one there waiting for her.

“Hey,” her brother Tom said, entering the room.

“Hi.”

Tom began to open his mouth to ask something, but Trinity already knew what he was going to say.

“‘How was school,’ you wanted to ask?” Trinity said angrily.

Tom simply nodded.

“It was okay. Classes are fine. Everything’s understandable. All that stuff...”

“Are you sure? You seem a bit annoyed,” Tom noted.

“This September has just been hard I guess. First dad being fired from his job, then on the spot gets a ton of new offers to join other people’s jobs. Then we moved. In the middle of September, Tom! Everyone has their friends, their secret languages, who’s popular, who’s not, everything you do on the actual first day,” Trinity said, then noticed how loud she was and began to calm down. “I guess I just want to fit in. Do you think I look and sound weird?” she asked quietly to her brother.

“Trinity, of course not! You shouldn’t let what others think about you affect anything you do, okay? You do you, and no one should interfere in that,” Tom answered.

“Um, okay,” she said, surprised by his words.

Tom’s “big brother talk” was turning into a lecture and a questionable discussion. Trinity began to worry she might accidentally spill the tea.

“Thanks, Tom, you always know what to say, I’ve got a lot of homework, catching up you know! So, you can get a move on, bye!” Trinity quickly said, pushing her brother out of her room. She sat down on her chair and hoped for better days. 

Maybe the next few days will be better

Trinity didn’t know, though, that Jen was coming for her and had gotten a ton of people to help her crush Trinity.

There was a ding coming from Trinity’s phone. 

Someone had messaged her. 

Trinity got up and picked up her phone. She had been sent a video. A video of her. It was a clip of Trinity talking back to Jen.

Trinity read who had sent this and was struck by shock. 

It was a chat between kids from the whole school. Someone named Kelly added her and seemed to be on Jen’s side. Along with the video, Kelly added a caption saying, “Alien Girl from Mars thought she could yell at Jen the queen and not have any consequences.”

Lots of “L.O.L.S” and “I know, right?” were coming from different people. Trinity thought she must’ve been accidentally added to the chat, mainly because of all the replies being sent, but a little piece inside of her was thinking differently.

“What if someone added me, to... give me a sign? A sign that Jen isn’t changing one bit?” she asked herself.

Trinity shrugged it off and began her work, eventually forgetting all the drama in her life. But she couldn’t shut out the world forever. Jen could be plotting something right now.

Chapter 5

The Speech

    It was Trinity’s third day of school. The day before, she had managed to dodge any interaction with Jen and had made it home alive. She hoped she could do the same on this cold day.

Trinity walked into the school and turned towards her locker. She dropped some of her notebooks into it and closed the door. Trinity then turned and started to head for English. She suddenly tripped over something and landed stiffly on the floor. She started to get up, but then she heard a voice.

Jen.

This girl just isn’t going to leave me alone.

“Get up, little alien, you can do it! Come on!” Jen said in an annoying baby voice. Obviously, Jen had to have tripped Trinity on purpose. 

Why, though?

She got her answer quickly, and it all made sense. Jen was out for revenge.

Trinity thought about just staying there until everyone left, but she knew better.

“Out of my way you monster,” Trinity said, getting up and pushing Jen down. “I don’t get why you have to be so mean to people,” Trinity started, after walking a few inches away from Jen. “Having the knowledge of stars is beautiful, unlike you. You may be beautiful on the outside, Jen, but on the inside, you’re just ugly, like I already told you.”

Many people came in and began to watch, just like on the first day of school for Trinity. Almost everyone ‘oohed’ at what Trinity had just said. She didn’t want to create any drama, so she just simply walked away to her first class. A class Jen’s in.                                  

As soon as Trinity entered her classroom, she felt a bit safe.

The lesson soon began, but she never saw Jen enter the room. Trinity turned and looked to the back of the room and only found Lucy and the other people who hung out with Jen.

“It’s almost October, and our school’s daily traditional speech is coming up!” Mrs. Quin began.

“One person from each grade will give a powerful speech, and this year for 7th grade, someone will be chosen from Mr. Macintosh’s homeroom! Everyone’s name from his homeroom has been put into this hat. Ready?” she asked.

Most of the kids chanted “yes,” and others seemed sad, probably because he wasn’t their homeroom teacher. Trinity’s name was in that hat, and she didn’t want to hear who’s name came out, so she closed her eyes and ears.

Mrs. Quin shaked the hat a bit, and began to pick a name out. She closed her eyes, and put her hand in. Two names came out, so Mrs. Quin randomly put one onto her table. She opened her eyes, and unfolded the piece of paper.

“Fauna Windwin?” Mrs. Quin read.

Trinity was relieved that it wasn’t her. She wouldn’t have to write a speech and read it in front of lots of people.

Lots of kids groaned, and one kid then raised their hand.

“Yes, Marcus, what is it?” Mrs. Quin asked the boy.

“Fauna was chosen last year too; can’t you pick from the hat again? It’s not fair,” Marcus answered.

Others nodded, and Mrs. Quin sighed.

“Well, then, let me pick up the other name that was stuck to Fauna’s.”

Mrs. Quin gently set down the hat onto her table, and picked up the sheet of folded paper. Unfolding it, she spoke once more.

“I’m sure this person hasn’t gone before! Trinity Shwartz, you’ll be giving a speech this year, congratulations!”

Panic sizzled down onto Trinity. She wanted to desperately not accept the offer, and give it onto someone else, but it didn’t seem right to do that.

“Class is dismissed everyone. Have a good day,” Mrs. Quin said, and then motioned Trinity towards her desk.

“Yes, ma’m, I mean, Mrs. Quin.”

Trinity felt stupid that she was so nervous just talking to her own teacher who was so nice to her.

“I just wanted to give you this paper. It has a prompt of the speech you’re going to deliver.”

“Thank you,” Trinity said, taking the paper into her hands.

“I’m sure you’ll deliver an excellent speech, Trinity. Bye now!” Mrs. Quin said, waving.

As Trinity left the room and headed towards math, she read the paper. “Write an inspiring speech about something important to you that needs to change in our world. That’s an interesting thing to think about,” Trinity said to herself and walked into math class. 

Jen’s doesn’t go to her math class, but she should’ve been in English. Trinity was curious about her sudden absence but relieved at the same time.

Trinity’s math teacher wasn’t there, so they had a substitute teacher, Ms. Gradlin. Ms. Gradlin left everyone in Trinity’s class to complete their math problems from the day before. Just like that, math ended, and many other classes did too.

The lunch bell rang. Everyone, including Trinity, walked into the huge lunchroom. People sat with their friend groups, and some went to order lunch. Trinity sat down at her usual table, alone, like the last three days.

She began to eat and started deeply thinking about something that should change. Trinity opened her notebook, and she jotted down some ideas.

• Pollution

She stopped writing. Some people were pointing at her and laughing. They walked up to Trinity and sat down at her table. Luckily, Jen wasn’t

with them.

“We heard you were chosen for the speech. It’s hilarious!” Lucy said.

“I don’t even think she can make a proper speech,” Kelly, the girl who sent the video, giggled.

“Jen totally should've been chosen instead of you. She’d probably make an excellent speech,” another girl said.

Trinity felt like asking where Jen was, but Jen came and answered her question for her.

“What are you people doing here? I leave early and when I’m back you’re here with Alien Kid?” Jen asked her fellow friends, or at least Trinity felt that they were her friends. She was completely ignoring the fact Trinity was right in front of her.

“Just doing some business. Trinity here was chosen for the speech, and we were just telling her how you would definitely make a better one,” Kelly answered quickly.

“Okay. Whatever, let’s go,” Jen said, and they left.

“Well that was unexpecting,” Trinity said to herself.

“I have my eyes on you Shwartz,” Jen said, quickly coming back to Trinity.

“Sure, okay,” Trinity said. She felt like laughing, how stupid this conversation felt. Like Jen had planned it, although it seemed more like a failure to Trinity.

Jen left, and Trinity finished her lunch and continued to think about the prompt. She thought about things she would do to change the world in a way. Soon, lunch ended and Trinity put her thoughts back to school life and not social life. But Trinity, she didn’t know one thing. A surprise that was waiting for her inside her home.

Chapter 6

Surprise!

    Trinity walked home that day from school. The sights she could see calmed her, the gentle breeze, too. It was paradise for Trinity. She was surrounded by red, orange, yellow, and even some brown leaves. Some were in trees, some on the ground. The wind was carrying these leaves around like hand-controlled puppets.

Trinity reached her house, opened the front door and came inside.

“Mom, I’m home,” Trinity said, walking down the hall.

“Oh, splendid! I had a few things to tell you Trinity!” her mom shouted back from the kitchen. Trinity groaned and walked into their new kitchen.

“Do you have any idea what’s coming up in a few days?” Trinity’s mom asked.

Trinity shook her head, and tried to remember what was coming up.

“Your anniversary? A game? Dad’s big meeting? I don’t know!” Trinity said, running out of choices.

“You don’t know?” her mom asked.

Trinity thought once more and shook her head.

“Your birthday, silly!” Trinity’s mom said, laughing at her daughter’s forgetfulness.

Trinity remembered; her birthday comes on October 15, but that was a few days later, why in a rush?

“I’m planning a little something for you!” her mom said happily.

“Cool. Okay,” Trinity said, feeling odd with where this was going.

The house’s doorbell rang, which led Trinity to shout, “I’ll get it!” and walk towards the door. The door creaked as Trinity pushed it open.

“Hello?” Trinity asked, and then instantly regretted it.

“No time to chit chat; us ladies have to help Jen, so let’s just get this over with. We need you to ask Mrs. Quin if Jen can write the speech, and obviously read it, as you don’t even have the right mind to,” Lucy said, with Jen’s friends beside her.

Trinity didn’t exactly want to write the speech, or even share it out to everyone in the grades, but giving it to Jen? That was just a big “No.”

“No. I will not,” Trinity said, with a little question in her voice towards herself.

“What did you say, girl?” Kelly asked, leaning in on Trinity.

“I said, ‘No,’” Trinity repeated, backing up a little to be prepared to run if they attempted to strangle her.

Lucy looked in disgust at Trinity and motioned for Jen’s huddled group to leave. Trinity sighed and closed the door, walking towards her room.

“Who was at the door, Trinity?” Trinity’s mom questioned.

“Oh, um,” Trinity began, thinking of who she should say. “Just some kids from school. They, er, wanted to give me my,” Trinity looked around the room and then put her hand into her pocket. “They wanted to give me my pencil. They know how very special it is to me.”

Trinity’s mom stared at her, and quietly said, “Okay.”

Her mom must’ve thought Trinity was crazy, but Trinity didn’t care. She began to leave.

“I’m going to go do my homework now, bye,” Trinity said, walking up the stairs quickly. 

Trinity didn’t hear any response from her mom, but she assumed that her mom was still thinking about the pencil.

Assumptions can’t always be right.

Chapter 7

The Invitation to Doom

“Maybe I should’ve just let Jen do it,” Trinity said, pacing her room for ideas on topics for the speech. It was early morning, 6:32 A.M to be exact. Trinity would have to share a speech in just 21 days, which seemed like so little time to her. School would be starting in just a few hours, and she had barely slept the night before. She shifted her attention to her phone the very second she got a message.

    “Ugh, not again,” Trinity said, picking up her phone.

The message was from some girl named Serina, and it was sent in the chat for the whole grade. Trinity quietly read it aloud.

    “Did any of you hear about the upcoming announcement?” Trinity read, then gently set her phone down.

She began to get ready for school, and by 7:25 A.M she was almost done with her breakfast.

“Well you’re eating quickly today, Trinity,” Trinity’s dad said, getting ready for his new job.

Trinity barely heard the remark, and then ran back up to her room to get her backpack. She was doing this all so quickly, because she wanted to get to school earlier than Jen. She just hated the drama with her. The school was so close to their house that for the last few days, Trinity had been walking to school instead of being driven or taking the bus. Grabbing her backpack, Trinity said bye to her family and began to jog to school.

    “I cannot run into Jen today. At all!” Trinity said through clenched teeth as she was waiting for some cars to stop.

Normally, Trinity’s luck wasn’t the best, but today seemed to be different. No Jen to be seen at the school entrance. The light turned red, which let Trinity cross the road and head into the school. The second she entered the halls, everything got quiet. Eyes went straight onto Trinity. But she didn’t bother to care anymore. It was happening so often that it just made her mad, but she had to keep her feelings hidden, or so she thought.

“Attention, everyone!” some teacher called out, making everyone's attention shift towards the teacher.

Lots of kids were murmuring on what it could be. Trinity was annoyed by the fact that if the kids wouldn’t stop talking, they’d never know what the announcement would be. Everyone must’ve heard what she thought since they all got quiet.

“Some of you probably know what’s going on if you had an older sibling who attended Greenport Middle School. Every year, the 7th graders, yes, the 7th graders, get to put on a show! This year is going to be extra special, though,” the teacher said with an air of suspense.

“What do you mean it will be extra special?” some kids asked, waiting eagerly for an answer.

Trinity was also intrigued, but was afraid to say anything. What if someone would say something back? What if someone stared at her if she spoke? What if that alerted the teacher, who then would talk to the principal, who then would talk to her parents. Her life would be over, or so it seemed to Trinity. 

Which is exactly why she stayed quiet. 

The teacher seemed to want to tell everyone what was so special about this year. He began to motion for kids to quiet down, like he was going to speak.

    “We’re putting on…” the teacher began.

It was so quiet that one could hear a pin drop. You could sense the students’ anticipation for what in the world the teacher was going to say. 

“an original musical that we music teachers have been working on for a few years! Now here's the special part: the whole district is going to watch it, but, additionally, some professional musical actors who’d love to see everyone in our school’s work of art!”

Silence.

Complete. Silence.

Then, the opposite of silence.

There were lots of cheers of joy; everyone seemed excited.

Surprisingly, Trinity was, too. Not for others, but for herself. Because, from the second she heard the news, she knew one thing.

She was going to audition.

Chapter 8

A Secret

    Musicals, or any type of shows, weren’t really Trinity’s thing, or so she told the whole world. Trinity portrayed herself as a girl who only liked schoolwork and also outer space. Of course, even outer space comes in the category of schoolwork.

All of that was true, but she liked other things like musicals, Broadway shows, and dancing, too. Trinity didn’t just like them, she loved them.

But no one knew the inner Trinity, so it was such a surprise for others to see her signing her name down for the auditions which would be held in a few days. The audition would be simple and split into categories: speaking, singing, and dancing, things Trinity felt capable of, which is exactly why she was signing up.

She wrote her name on the form as neat as she could, standing firmly as she did so.

Signup Sheet

Trinity

English would be starting in 5 minutes, but a name on the sign up sheet caught her eye. It was the second to last on the list of names.

Amelia

Celine

Jen

Terry

    “Jen,” Trinity said to herself with anger, but then let it go because of who was next to her.

    “You’re auditioning?” Jen asked Trinity with such surprise in her voice.

    “My name is on the sheet, isn’t it?” Trinity asked, with a half-angry, half-innocent tone.

    “It is, but,” Jen began, with a huge pause.

Trinity felt she was thinking of something mean to say.

    “But you probably already know you won’t make any of the lead roles. I know what they should do! They should make you a little tree who’d be bobbing around a bit the whole time. You’d be a hit,” Jen managed to finish, laughing hysterically in the end.

Trinity decided to say nothing and just walk away, just in case this caused any drama. Drama can be fun if it’s not real, but her stuff with Jen. Oh, that was real, for sure, no doubt.

Chapter 9

Change of View

    “There should be a cure for when you have no ideas on what to write,” Trinity said, grudgingly, groaning as she lay down on her bed.

The speech that Trinity had to write was going to be shared in nineteen days, and if she wanted to audition for the musical too, she’d have to get the speech out of her way to make time to practice. Trinity thought deeply, but nothing came to her.

Nothing.

19 days left.

No progress made, at all.

This freaked Trinity out. For a whole one hour, she panicked. Pacing her room back and forth, shaking her head with doubt. Until, someone entered her room and put a hold on her so-called panic session.

    “Trinity-” Tom began.

He stared at Trinity, who quickly stopped her panicking.

    “Is everything okay?” he asked, sitting next to Trinity on her bed.

    “Not really. I have to write this essay,” Trinity began, not telling the whole entire truth.

    “In the essay there’s a prompt given, the prompt was basically something that should change in the world. My problem is that I can’t think of much that needs to change in the world,” she finished.

    “You can’t think of anything?” Tom asked her.

    “Well, I can, but none of it really seems like it’s right to write about,” Trinity answered.

It was true. She didn’t feel like writing about pollution, or other things, they all seemed like topics that would in the end mean nothing.

“Well Trin, I want to help, but this is something you have to write. When you can’t think of anything, change the way you’re looking at it,” 

Tom said, getting up from the bed. He looked Trinity in the eye, but all he got was a face frowned.

    “I hope that helped. Anyways, I came here to tell you that dinner was ready,” he spoke calmly. Trinity just nodded and Tom left, looking sad as if his advice didn’t work.

    “Change the way you’re looking at it, huh,” Trinity repeated, rereading the prompt.

Then a sudden thought hit her.

The prompt read, “Write an inspiring speech about something important to you that needs to change in our world.”

Trinity found a keyword, or in her case, two words that had important meaning in the sentence. 

To you. 

She didn’t have to write a speech based on the whole world. She had to write it from her experiences.

Her life.

Chapter 10

Inspiration’s Anywhere

    The speaking lines and audition music for the songs had been passed out. Every student auditioning was also given a link to a website which had the music for the songs.

Each kid basically received the whole score.

As soon as Trinity reached home she read the script. Earlier that day, Jen had made her late because she was teasing Trinity about how big and odd her glasses looked. But now she was home. Now it was Trinity’s chance to dive into the script that the seventh grade would be putting on live.                                                                                                 

She grabbed her backpack, unzipping it instantly. She then carefully took out the script, being careful not to rip or crumple up any paper.

    “‘Chasing the Stars,’ by the teachers of Greenport Middle School,” Trinity spoke softly aloud.

Trinity found a little blurb about the musical and all the different characters. Trinity skimmed through the characters and began reading the short summary that was given.

    “Jade Brown is a 13 year old teenager who gets bullied by kids from her school. She doesn’t seem to fit in with the other kids, which leaves her two options: to listen to those bullies and be someone she wasn’t, or to not let anyone tell her who she is. Fitting in isn’t needed when you were born to stand out.”

Trinity felt like she had a connection with Jade, even though she barely even knew the made-up character. Trinity started reading the script but got bored, so she mainly focused on the songs. 

Song List

1. Who Are You

2. My Dream

3. I Believe

4. Home is Where

5. Life Seems to Be Over

6. Go

7. Belong Here

8. Stay Where You Want

9. Leave Me

10. What’s Your Problem

11. Called Out

12. Say Yes, Or Else

13. Come and Go, I Don’t Know

14. Please Stay

15. How to be Me

All the songs had interesting names, but there was one specific name that Trinity was hooked on. It was entitled, “How to be Me.”

Every kid auditioning would have to pick one song. Trinity had finally found her audition song. And something else, too.

Inspiration.

Chapter 11

A Kid and a Lunchroom 

Trinity walked into the 

loud, crowded lunchroom. She found her usual table and sat down. Lately, every lunch period had been annoying. Every time, Jen showed up with her gang and said mean stuff about Trinity.

This day wasn't any different.

Jen walked right up to Trinity. It was basically her full time job to tease kids about their life, looks, words, anything that included kids crying a flood bigger than Noah’s worked for Jen, it seemed… 

“What do you want now, Jen? Can’t you see I’m busy?” Trinity said, the moment Jen came to the table.

    “Busy with what? Being an alien?” Jen countered, mimicking an alien making odd beep boop bop sounds.

Trinity sighed and gave up on saying anything. She didn’t see any reason to antagonize Jen anymore. She had tried to do so in the past and had learned that nothing would ever change the girl’s actions. 

Maybe things would change if more people joined forces... 

Why would anyone do that, though?

Trinity was about to find out.

“Stop it. Stop calling her an alien. It’s not nice,” a short and confident girl said.

She’s a brave girl, doesn’t care what others think.

“Get out of my way. This is none of your business!” Jen said, pushing the girl aside.

“It’s not your business to ask what I’m up to and follow me everywhere I go, Jen. Let that girl be,” Trinity said, surprised by this courage that showed up from nowhere.

Jen seemed surprised too.

    “Now you talk? You, girl, shortie I’ll call you, leave us alone. This is between the alien and me. You can leave,” Jen said to the girl angrily.

The girl left. 

She probably ran out of courage to say things anymore.

“Is that what you wanted? To hurt another kid’s feelings? Like I’ve said in the past, you need to check yourself instead,” Trinity said, picking up her stuff and getting up. Trinity was through with Jen; she didn’t feel like eating anymore. Walking out the lunchroom, Trinity bumped into someone.

    “Sorry,” Trinity said, looking up to see who it was.

It was the girl who had tried to tell Jen to back off.

    “You’re really brave. I heard what you said about her leaving me alone,” Trinity said, a bit nervous about the possible outcome of the conversation.

    “Thanks, you are too. I’m sorry no one has really come to help you in any way,” the girl answered.

Trinity just nodded.

    “You’re in my Social Studies class, right? I think I’ve seen you before,” Trinity said to the girl.

    “I have Social Studies with Mrs. Frina in 5th period. Do you?” the girl asked.

    “Same! I still haven’t gotten your name,” Trinity said excitedly.

    “Jocelyn.”

    “Jocelyn is a really pretty name. We should hang out sometime,” Trinity said, surprised by the words coming out of her mouth.

“We should. How about your house after school? It’s perfectly fine if you can't. We could also try another day, too,” Jocelyn said.

Trinity froze.

Her mom would be fine with that, for sure. “It is almost my birthday,” her brain added. All the points were valid, but would Trinity even know how to act?

    “Sure! That’ll work for me. See you then?” Trinity blurted out.

    “Alright, see you then!”

Just like that, Trinity was going to hang out with someone she had just met in school. In her house.

In four more periods.

Was she really going to be able to do this? She would find out sooner or later, if she survived.

Chapter 12

The Bond

    Every kid was packing up, getting ready to go home or somewhere else. Trinity was packing up to go to the place where everything might get awkward, and Jocelyn would end up hating her.

    “You ready?” Trinity asked, as kids began walking to their homes or heading for the buses.

    “Sure am! You walk to school from your home?” Jocelyn questioned.

Trinity just nodded, being very careful about what she did and said. Finally, she decided to give in and spill the secret.

“My mom, dad, and brother don’t know about Jen.”

Jocelyn stared at Trinity for a while.

She then began to open her mouth to speak.

    “Why would they know? If they did, your problems would be solved, correct?”

Another nod from Trinity, and a sigh of relief.

They began walking to Trinity’s house, until they reached a bunch of cars passing by which stopped them from crossing.

    “My house is right over there,” Trinity said, gesturing towards her house the best she could.

“It looks beautiful from here,” Jocelyn said, seeming to get excited. 

Both the girls within minutes reached Trinity’s house, and started to get in. Trinity went in first then quickly told her mom who she brought.

“I brought a-er-friend over, just so you’re aware,” she said quickly, giving a don’t-mess-this-up-for-me stare. Trinity introduced Jocelyn to her mom, then brought Jocelyn to her room. 

“What’s that?” Jocelyn asked Trinity, pointing to her walls, which were decorated completely with space posters and glow-in-the-dark planets and stars.

“Oh, uh, those are just some space related stuff. You might’ve heard how I really like space.”

Trinity closed all her curtains to make the room dark enough for the glow-in-the-dark planets to show up.

    “Woah!” Jocelyn said in amazement.

Trinity remembered back to her first day here, seeing all those stars. This moment was as beautiful as the first one.

    “We should probably start our homework now,” Trinity said, trying to remember everything they had to do.

    “Yeah, then maybe we could have some real fun,” Jocelyn added.

Fun was indeed what they had, so much fun that Trinity forgot about all her worries. 

They talked, and played some board games. Trinity had the best time with Jocelyn.

Before she even realized it, she had made a friend.

Chapter 13

Interruptions

    Auditions were going to be held in the theater on October 20th. Trinity’s speech would be shared on October 24th.

There were so many upcoming events; Trinity felt overwhelmed. Since the auditions were coming up first, Trinity decided to practice first.

A few nights before, Trinity had looked at the notes and learned the melody. Now, it was time to put the song together.

She began singing.

Have you ever gotten lost in the ocean

Incapable for words and its motion

So you dived down

And blocked the sound

The words in the beginning were so true to Trinity which is one of the reasons she chose this to be her audition song. She could relate to Jade, the main character from Chasing the Stars. Trinity continued singing.

Everyone seems to know how to act

They tell you how to be

Leaving you unable

To react

They say

Many things

That only bring

Questions on why

This is happening

The pre-chorus was building momentum, and Trinity was so close to the chorus. Then her phone rang, causing her to lose the moment and stop singing. 

Turning off everything, she picked up the call, which was from Jocelyn.

    “Hey Trin! Jocelyn here! Guess what?” Jocelyn said excitedly.

Startled by the volume of her phone, Trinity decreased it and spoke softly into the speaker.

    “Hey! People say I’m not really a great guesser, so tell me,” Trinity confessed.

It was true; she couldn’t even guess that her birthday was coming up.

    “Okay, fine. I just found out that the auditions are being moved to the 18th! That’s in, like, seven days!”

Trinity didn’t know how to react. 

Seven more days? But what about my speech? I have to work on that, too! How am I supposed to handle everything single freaking thing at once?

    “That’s great! I can’t wait!” Trinity spoke with an odd laugh.

“I got to go! See you later!” Jocelyn said back, ending the call.

Just like that, Trinity was left with such a huge predicament. Which gave her a choice, and lots of things would depend on it. Writing the speech over the next three days, or less, would help a whole ton. So Trinity began to write in her notebook.

Trinity Shwartz                      Mrs. Quin

Speech on Changing Something in the World

Something I’d like to change in the world is bullying. People get put down and feel they need to change themselves to impress, but in the end just get laughed at more. People are told to change the things even though they may like them, and then they go and do it. Nothing helps, though.

Trinity liked what she had begun writing, but it wasn’t done. Or even close to being done.

Then she encountered another interruption.

A message from Jen.

Trinity rolled her eyes and read the message.

“YFWFMI/A. What does that mean?” she read, putting the phone 

down.  

Trinity continued writing and humming, wondering what the message meant. Sent by mistake? Typo? Code language? She had no idea.

One of those guesses was right.

But which one?

Chapter 14

The Battle of the Voices

    Jen was waiting for Trinity at the green light, which seemed anxious for the cars to go.

    “What do you want, Jen?” Trinity asked, groaning.

    “It’s nice that you’re getting right to the point,” Jen answered, smiling with a smirk.

Sighing, Trinity waited for Jen to stop talking about how Jen was going to get the lead in the musical and how Trinity was going to be some dumb character.

Her head was going to explode from Jen’s constant talking. Then boom, she said it.

“Why do you think you’re better than me?” Trinity quickly covered her mouth, and other kids standing at the green light stared, waiting to see how Jen would react.

“Because, I know it,” Jen said in a pushy tone.

“You don’t have any proof, though, Jen,” a kid pointed out.

Jen nodded and made a face like she was thinking hard.

“Here, want some proof? Battle of voices. Meet me at the three minute break in between periods two and three. Understood?” Jen asked, not even bothering to ask if Trinity could make it.

    “Fine,” she answered, worrying about what she’d gotten herself into.

The light turned red, and people started walking down the road towards the school.

As soon as Trinity entered the school she looked for Jocelyn.

    “Hi, Trinity!” a familiar voice said.

    “Jocelyn, am I glad to see you! You won’t believe what just happened-” Trinity started.

    “You’re having a voice battle?” Jocelyn blurted out, just as Trinity was about to continue.

    “Yeah, how’d you know?” she asked Jocelyn.

    “The news is traveling all around the school.”

Trinity studied her face and expression. 

How could the news travel that fast?

    “Okay…” Trinity said hesitantly.

    “I hope you win, I wonder how they’re even supposed to judge,” Jocelyn wondered, changing the subject.

    “Good point. Maybe whichever person gets more cheers,” Trinity added, shrugging.

    “Which song are you going to sing?”

Trinity thought about that. 

What song am I going to sing? 

Then it hit her. “How to be Me, my audition song,” she thought out loud.

The bell rang, and the students headed for class. Trinity waved to Jocelyn, realizing that the battle would happen in just a few hours, an hour and a half to be exact.

Jocelyn quickly left Trinity, which was odd. Yes, they’re supposed to leave, but without saying anything? Trinity sighed and went into English while she mentally prepared herself for what would come after.

Before she knew it, the time for potential humiliation was upon her.

Jen nodded to Trinity right when math ended, and pointed toward the fountain. Trinity walked over to the drinking fountain and got a drink, trying to drown her nerves. Huge crowds of kids were gathering. Jen walked over towards Trinity, but stopped just outside of striking distance.

The two rivals had three minutes to sing. Kelly motioned to Jen to sing first, setting her fancy iPhone’s timer for one minute. Jen began. She sang the song My Life Seems to be Over, and her voice stunned Trinity.

People keep on telling me things that knock me down

Oh yes people keep saying things that hit me down to the ground

No one seems to want me

My life just seems to be

Over

Jen sang with such grace and beauty, especially on the last few notes. It was Trinity’s turn now. Kelly motioned for Trinity to wait for her countdown, then she would start singing.

Three.

Two.

One.

Trinity began the opening of the song which sounded like a single drop of water calling for warm, crisp happiness in a cold, uncaring ocean.

Have you ever gotten lost in the ocean

Incapable for words and its motion

So you dived down

And blocked the sound

Everyone seems to know how to act

They tell you how to be

Leaving you unable

To react

They say

Many things

That only bring

Questions on why

This is happening

Well, I’m done with blocking out

I’m done with diving down

I’m going to scream and shout

‘Cause I know how to be me

Trinity was getting cheers from the other kids; could this mean she was winning?

She continued, pouring her heart into the song more powerfully than she ever had before.

No one can tell me what to do

It’s up to me, no longer you

I’m free

‘Cause no one’s telling me how to be me

Her time was up. Now, the votes.

Everyone voting for Jen had to give a thumbs up, and everyone voting for Trinity would give a thumbs down.

Inside, Trinity felt it was wrong that she was considered the “thumbs-down” person, but for time purposes she didn’t say anything. Scanning the hall, it seemed a bunch of kids hadn’t chosen yet, and the ones who did, chose Trinity.

Very few chose Jen, which made Jen groan.

    “Fine, you’re a better singer; I’m out of here,” Jen said, walking away. Jocelyn ran after Jen.

Why, though? Trinity had no idea.

Jocelyn seemed to have known, though. Otherwise, why would she have run up to Jen? Was there some secret between them that Trinity didn’t know about?

Chapter 15

Puzzles

Trinity stood in her 

bedroom, trying to process what had happened. “Jocelyn. Jocelyn ran up to Jen, but why?” She had some ideas, but she shrugged them off. Trinity decided that since she wasn’t in school at that second, there was no need to worry about it.

It was a rainy Friday evening, and, surprisingly, her birthday was in two days. She didn’t care that much. 

It just wouldn’t be the same as it was in Pittsburg.

She opened her drawer and got out her notebook to write a bit more for her speech.

Trinity Shwartz    Mrs. Quin

Speech on Changing Something in the World

    Something I’d like to change in the world is bullying. People get put down and feel they need to change themselves to impress, but in the end just get laughed at more. People change the best things about themselves just because the bully told them to. But what they do doesn’t keep them from being bullied. It makes the bully feel powerful, yeah. 

    But the victims? What happened to them? Nothing helps in getting back what you lose. But we have to stay strong and keep going, no matter what anyone says, or so people say. What’s wrong with the bully? Nothing? Do people who say to ‘let it go’ know how it feels? The feeling of being told to change, changing into someone you’re not? It’s not fun.

Trinity liked what she wrote. Writing helped her get her mind off things. Mainly, her problems were things she wanted to stay away from. But life didn’t want to listen or be fair with her. So there she was, trying to calm herself from all her problems.

Distracted, she decided to plop herself on her bed and take a nap. Trinity was asleep in seconds. A horrific dream came along. 

Ivy, Stella, and Alexandra, three girls from Trinity’s old school popped into her dream. They weren’t her friends, and they weren’t nice at all.

Ivy, a tall, slim girl with hazel eyes and dirty blonde hair, teased Trinity about her glasses in kindergarten. Trinity put her on her enemies list that day.

Stella was in Trinity’s class when she was in third grade, and also had beautiful looks like Ivy. Stella had deep, brown eyes and gorgeous blonde hair.

Alexandra wasn’t in their school in elementary years but moved into their neighborhood when Trinity was in sixth grade. That year, Alexandra, who had brown eyes, attractive gold hair, and shiny silver earrings, joined the other Barbie Dolls in Trinity’s class.

Teasing kids was the only thing the trio were good at. They especially enjoyed targeting Trinity’s wardrobe and...well, everything about her, really. Poor Trinity couldn’t do anything about it, though; each day, after she came home from school, she spent the afternoon crying. 

The trio found a way into Trinity’s dream, and did what they had always done best: bully Trinity.

Ivy was laughing at how Trinity had done her hair that day. It was down, not in a ponytail like usual. Alexandra was pointing out how her earrings were an odd color, and Stella? Stella called her stupid right to her face.

Everything seemed like a dream, but it was uncomfortably similar to the way that it actually happened.

The sad reality started out as a normal day. Sunny skies, kids smiling and laughing. 

Not for Trinity. 

Everyone was bringing in their projects for the science assignment. They each had to make a diorama of space, something Trinity favored. She was carrying hers in when, all of a sudden, Alexandra started to laugh.

“That looks ridiculous!” Alexandra said through her laughs.

Alexandra motioned for Ivy and Stella to come see Trinity’s diorama.

    “You’re right. None of those planets look right!” Stella said, pulling a planet off and throwing it onto the floor.

    “Hey! You’re breaking it apart! Look what you did! Now I might fail!” a young, sixth-grader Trinity said.

Young Trinity gasped on what she had just said, and covered her mouth with her hand. She realized it probably angered the three girls.

“Your hair doesn’t look right,” Ivy said, pulling her hair-band out hard.

Trinity grumbled but didn’t say anything. If she did, the situation would only get worse.

Alexandra grabbed a paint brush from a table covered in paint and put it over Trinity’s earrings. “Your earrings don’t look that good on you Trinity, did you know?”

Her earrings were now an odd maroon-black color, and it was true, they didn’t look good at all anymore. Those earrings were brand new.

Stella grabbed Trinity’s diorama and threw the whole thing on the floor. She laughed hysterically while Trinity tried to hold the tears back. Sounds were fading in and out, and then everything went black and white. 

She ended up getting an F on the project. She never forgot that day. Trinity woke up to reality, gasping for air. She picked up her notebook from her desk drawer and began writing in it, but not for the speech. Instead, she vented about everything she hated in her life.

Her life was in pieces; everything was, and it was up to her to fix it.

Chapter 16

Reflections

The sound of a phone 

ringing is common to some ears. Not Trinity’s.

It was Saturday afternoon, and Trinity’s phone was buzzing from a call. 

A call from Jocelyn.

    “Should I pick it up?” Trinity wondered.

If none of the events that happened on Friday had actually occurred, she would’ve, but they did, so Trinity had no idea. She let it ring for a few seconds until it stopped. Picking up the phone, she turned the ringer off and began to think aloud.    

“My birthday's tomorrow. Things aren’t good with Jocelyn. Jen’s just, Jen. Auditions are in like 4 days. Wait,” Trinity thought, realizing something big.

“Are the auditions actually on the 18th? What if they’re not? What if it was a lie?” she asked herself, quickly opening her computer to see if there was any news about the audition.

It was never on the 18th.

    “Why?”

Trinity felt stupid for believing Jocelyn. If the date had been changed, the teachers would’ve said something. Her phone vibrated with another call from Jocelyn.

Betrayed, described how Trinity felt.

Sad was another word she was feeling, but that quickly smoldered into anger.

She picked up a paper and ripped it in half, then ran to her window, letting bitter tears fall.

Memories.

Like seeds blowing from a dandelion, memories of Pittsburgh came drifting back, memories of the days she’d come home crying because of Ivy, Alexandra and Stella, days that no one was there to comfort her. 

Reality shook her, and it was still the same. No one there to comfort her. Something she desired to happen, someone to tell her “It’ll be alright. The people who are mean to you will stop torturing you in so many ways and let you be.”

Trinity stopped crying, picked up the paper and threw it in the trash. She sat at her desk and looked into the mirror. “Am I good enough for this world?” Trinity asked the person staring deeply back at her.

Her reflection made things better; it made things better by showing her the real Trinity. She recited something she made up on the spot.

    “No one can tell me what to look like,” she started. She motioned to the mirror as she said this.

    “No one can tell me how to act.”

Trinity remembered when Ivy pulled her pony-tail down. She also recalled when Jen had constantly told her she was ugly and needed to change how she looked.              

“No one can tell me what to like and what not to.” 

There were things Trinity really liked, such as space, that everyone made fun of her for, even calling her an alien.

    “No one can tell me how to be me.”

Trinity stood up, thinking once more about what she had just said. She spoke aloud again.

    “No one’s stopping until you stop them.”

Chapter 17

Happy Birthday!

    The sound of giggling woke Trinity. She got out of bed, confused about what was going on. Then she remembered.

“Happy birthday!” Tom said, walking into Trinity’s room, hugging her.

“Thanks! What’s going on down there?” Trinity questioned, hoping for an answer that was not like “It’s a surprise!”

“It’s a surprise!”

That failed.

    “Were you sent to keep me from going down? ‘Cause I’m not staying up here, just to let you know,” Trinity said emphatically, ready to leave her room.

She wanted to breathe in fresh morning air, not her stuffy bedroom air. Trinity could’ve opened her window, but it wouldn’t be the same as going outside.

Tom frowned, implying that she should stay.

She resigned herself, and began browsing around her room for things to do. Tom could’ve pitched in to save her from ultimate boredom, but he didn’t seem that interested in doing so. Her phone made a melodious ding; someone had sent her a message.

    “What was that?” Tom asked.

Trinity grabbed her phone.

    “Nothing,” she said quickly.

    “Okay,” Tom said with a suspicious stare.

It was from Jocelyn.

    “I’ll stay here. You can go Tom, I mean it,” Trinity said, trying to get Tom out of the room.

She wanted to read the message, but if Tom found out about what a mess things were at school, her peaceful homelife would go down the drain for sure.

    “Um, okay. You can come when I tell you, as it’s all supposed to be a surprise. I hope you keep your word,” Tom answered with hesitation. 

With that, Tom left the room, and Trinity logged into her phone, reading the message aloud.

    “I’m really sorry, Trinity. I wish it didn’t happen,” the message read.

Trinity did nothing, said nothing, had no idea how to react. 

The three dots that show up when someone is typing, appeared again.

    “Trin, I know you’ve read this. It shows me when you read the message,” Trinity continued reading. Startled by the remark, she still didn’t do anything.

    “Trinity, come on!” Tom said, running into her room.

    “Alright, let’s go!” Trinity answered, putting her phone down.

They both went into the kitchen where her mom and dad yelled, “Surprise!” Trinity decided to go along with it, even though it wasn’t much of a surprise. Her mom began the simple melody.

    “Happy birthday to you!”

Tom, and Trinity’s dad joined in.

    “Happy birthday to you! Happy birthday dear Trinity! Happy birthday to you!”

They all got into a big hug. Then, her mom pulled out of the hug, walked away, and came back with a beautifully-decorated cake. The whole house was decorated with ribbons, balloons, confetti, and many more pretty things.

    “Trinity, blow out your candles!” Trinity’s dad exclaimed.

She was turning thirteen! Trinity couldn’t believe how far she'd come in life and how strong she was becoming. Soon, maybe, everything would be better. 

Or not. 

Thirteen candles were there to represent her age. They reminded her of every other birthday she’d been through, Trinity couldn’t help but look back at the candles with a smile. Blowing as hard as a thirteen-year old could, she made a wish.

    “Happy birthday, Sis!” Tom said happily, hugging her.

Trinity smiled, but inside she wasn’t as happy as her family. She felt broken into pieces, like she always did on her birthdays. Trinity longed to go back to her hometown, but as the saying goes, “You can never really go home if there’s no home.”

Trinity felt greedy for even considering leaving her family who cared for her, and she cherished every moment with them. The best thing she could do was to push away the dreadful thoughts. So she did.

Trinity just hoped her wish would come true. The outcome of it would be really helpful to a lot of people. All she could hope for was hope. Unfortunately, Trinity’s hope was like walking on a tight-rope while wearing stilettos. 

Chapter 18

Suspicions 

    A very stressed Trinity ran around her driveway attempting to think up a plan after pacing her room didn’t work.

    “The audition is tomorrow, and this time it really is tomorrow. It’s not that fake date that Jocelyn gave me,” Trinity said.

    “Am I even prepared?!?” Trinity asked herself with infinite question marks. She ran into her room and looked through the song one more time. Her phone then rang, making Trinity groan as she stared at who it was from. Jocelyn, again.

It was the sixth call this week from Trinity’s ex-best friend.

    “Why am I getting so many calls from her?” Trinity questioned.

    “Getting so many calls from whom?” Trinity’s mom said, leaning against Trinity’s door with her hands crossed. Trinity froze, not knowing what to say, so she resorted to Plan-She-Hopes-She-Never-Has-To- Use-Again: making up a lie.

    “This scam-caller who’s called me like over five times. She’s so annoying.”

    “How do you know it’s a her?” Trinity’s mom asked, raising her eyebrows.

    “I answered one call by accident. The person sounded like a girl, but assumptions can’t always be right. That’s a good point mom.”

“I didn’t say anything,” her mom answered, staring at Trinity with the biggest eyes ever.

    If Trinity’s mom’s eyes were the bow and arrow and Trinity were the target, her mom would shoot a bullseye three times in a row.

“You did just now,” Trinity pointed out, hoping to divert the conversation.

Trinity’s mom sighed, and sat down on Trinity’s bed.

    “Is something wrong?” Trinity asked nervously. She had absolutely no idea why her mom came to her room out of the blue. Out of all the chances Trinity had to spill the tea, Trinity knew for sure that now was not the time.

    “I haven’t heard anything about Jocelyn from you other than the time she came over. Not that things should only be about her, it was just nice, nice to know someone was friends with my daughter,” Trinity’s mom said with such a sad tone in her voice.

    “Oh, I haven’t said anything since it turned out she had so many after school activities,” Trinity said swiftly.

Half the truth could work. Even though Jocelyn doesn’t even have any after school activities…  

Trinity used to hate telling so many lies in one day, but, surprisingly, Trinity didn’t mind telling this white lie.

Her mom wouldn’t know anyway, but if she did, who knows what she would do.

    “Okay,” her mom said. Trinity’s mom got up, and walked out the room, closing the door.

    “That was a close one,” Trinity said, relief filling in.

    “What was a close one?” Trinity’s mom said abruptly, opening the door again.

    “Ahh!” Trinity screamed in fear.

    “Oh, sorry, dear,” her mom said quietly.

She left, and Trinity didn’t say anything for the next few minutes.

    “I never really liked the sound of silence,” Trinity had claimed once while she was playing a game with her family.

Now, she lived in silence. She had to be silent. But her voice would come out no matter what, though, and change will come. Good changes.

Chapter 19

My Apologies

    Leaves flew everywhere 

with the gentle breeze as Trinity walked to school, shivering.

    “It’s freezing! And it’s not even December!” she said in amazement, dazzled by the leaves. At the same time, she was half dead from the cold.

    “Hi Alien! Or should I call you Infinity, it’s really hard to choose,” an annoying but common voice Trinity heard.

    “Seriously, why can’t you just leave me alone!” Trinity yelled, pushing Jen to the ground.

Trinity was surprised by her actions. She’d only done this once before.

“Jen deserved it anyway,” Trinity mumbled, walking away as soon as the walking sign appeared.

Today was a big day for her, and Trinity aimed for nothing to get in her way. She was going to audition, and luckily she had everything memorized. She even went overboard on learning her lines by heart. Additionally, the teachers were going to teach a little dance during the audition.

Would Trinity do well in her audition?

Would she get picked? 

Would she get put in the ensemble?

Would people laugh at her?

Would they be surprised?

So many questions were piling up in her head but she couldn’t get answers, not yet at least. Not until the auditions. 

Today seemed like a good day so far to Trinity since no one stared at her like she’s some weird girl when she entered the school. That relieved her. Her happiness didn’t last long, though. The person she’d been trying to avoid began following her. 

    “Trinity, wait!” Jocelyn yelled, not bothering that kids were looking right at her.

Trinity remembered what Jocelyn used to seem like to her.

    She’s a brave girl, doesn’t care what others think. 

Trinity now glared at Jocelyn as the person who betrayed her.

Jocelyn continued running after Trinity, not stopping to take a break at all. A teacher yelled at her to slow down, but Jocelyn barely did.

Trinity decided to give in, so she stopped jogging. Jocelyn soon caught up to Trinity.

    “Trinity, I’m really, really, really, sorry, please,” Jocelyn pleaded, looking worn out from running. 

Trinity just wanted to leave and let her day go smoothly, but Jocelyn seemed to want something else.

    “Look, I know you’re probably mad, but things had to be done,”

Jocelyn spoke soothingly to Trinity. It made her feel bad for what she was about to say.

“What things had to be done? Things for Jen, your friend? What about me? Why did you do everything that you did?” Trinity asked, wishing to get an answer. 

Two minutes were left until English. If Trinity were to get all her questions answered, it’d take more than two minutes.

    “It’s a really long story. Lunch?” Jocelyn said after quite some time. Trinity had wanted a full explanation, so it was fair for it to take a while to get it.

    “Okay,” she said sharply, getting ready to leave.

    “Thanks for stopping for me. I’m so sorry.” Jocelyn said with a weak smile.

Trinity only nodded emotionless. She walked away to English. 

Just. 

Like. 

That.

Chapter 20

Truth

    Time.

Time was something that went by very quickly for Trinity, mainly because she attempted to enjoy all of her subjects. 

Time goes by quickly when you’re having fun, Tom once told Trinity. Trinity entirely agreed. If Mrs. Quin were to ask for an essay about time speeding up on you, Trinity would turn in the assignment right away since she was living the example.

But Lunch Break did arrive soon enough, and Trinity found herself forcing Jocelyn to spit the truth.

“Tell me. Spill the tea. Now,” Trinity said strictly, as she sat down at her usual table with a new but old addition, Jocelyn.

    “Okay, so here’s the gist. Before you moved here, Jen was the most popular kid in the school. I think you probably already know that.”

Trinity simply nodded. It was obvious to her, with the attention Jen gets.

Jocelyn continued.

    “I was not as popular as Jen, but I did have a lot of friends that had my back and I had theirs. Soon, a kid moved here. We all were in like fifth grade, a year before middle school. Amy, which was her name, was a kid who was not shy at all. At all. She was brave and strong and everything. One day, some kid was getting picked on because of some stupid game they lost three times in a row. Amy came in and yelled at the people who were teasing the kid, to stop.”

    “Hang on, why are you telling me this?” Trinity questioned.

    “It’ll all make sense soon. Just listen. The kids who got yelled at by Amy started to yell at her and fight. They all got into some sort of wrestling match that caught the teachers attention. Everyone was suspended.

When the suspension ended, news was, Amy moved. She wasn’t as strong and brave as everyone thought. Jen, she was like the leader of the kids who started the mess. She thought, or so I think she thought, that she was invincible, she was the queen. Jen was popular because of her looks and her power. Her bravery, a very good characteristic, was sadly used for the worst things anyone could ever be proud of. No one ever stood up to Jen after Amy. Until you, that is. All those stares? People are probably thinking what will happen to you if you and Jen get suspended, or worse, expelled.”

Trinity was astonished. She later realized it was a Hermione Granger quote and giggled.

    After everything almost synced in, Trinity pointed out a missing detail: “Why were you with Jen, though? That still doesn’t make sense.”

    “That’s a quick story, I guess. When Jen came into school a few days before you arrived, she said there’s a weird girl coming in and that she wanted someone’s help to gather more information. She randomly chose me. I literally was just tying my shoe, then boom, she was like, ‘Jocelyn, you help me, or else.’ All my friends bailed on helping me get out of the mess I was in, so I did as I was told. I think you might just know the rest. I helped her find out more about you. I was set to be your “pretend friend,” but I actually liked being your friend. You’re cool,” Jocelyn finished, leaving Trinity blushing. She processed everything Jocelyn had just said, putting the pieces together. It made sense, but one little piece was missing.

    “Who was the kid that got made fun of for losing a game?”

    “Hmm, I think her name is Savanna Cunnings. She still goes here, she was too scared to move to a new school I think… something like that probably. She’s right over there,” Jocelyn said, pointing to a tall, skinny girl eating in a corner of the lunchroom.

    “I’m going to talk to her. Now,” Trinity said firmly. She wanted answers, and she was setting her mind to getting them, even if Jocelyn protested against it.

    “Excuse me, but are you Savanna Cunnings?”

Savanna nodded slightly. She opened her mouth like she was going to say something, but then she stopped right there.

“I didn’t mean to bother you, but, I had a few questions. I’m-” Trinity started, but got cut off.

    “Trinity Shwartz. I know. I’ve seen you before. I’ve heard of you, too,” a small-but-somewhat-confident voice said.

Trinity had a sudden sense of being practically famous around the school. Everyone somehow knew her, and that was getting pretty freaky.

    “May I ask my questions?”

    “Sure.”

    “Why did Jen hate you, like tease you and stuff? Were you her main target for a specific reason?”

    “I don’t know why she did anything that she’s done. When I lost that game of Sorry, she started saying I’m the worst board game player. I only lost because she was looking at which card I was given. To be honest, I had to play because we were all put into groups for indoor recess and she was in my group. A bunch of her friends were. I wanted to read, but they insisted it would be fun. I have legit never seen fun like that in my whole entire life. Not considering myself as the main target though, she wasn’t that mean back then. Now she makes jokes and says we’re all stupid more than ever.”

    “All?” Trinity asks.

    “A bunch of kids I mean. They’re targets too, but not just one main target, it’s spread amongst almost everyone. Yay!” Savanna said sarcastically.

    This is starting to feel like we’re all the targets of Merida’s bow and arrow...only Merida is really nice and Jen is not.

“Do you like learning about stars? Space too? The whole galaxy? Everything that’s beyond earth?” Trinity asked, trying to piece a theory together.

“It’s cool, I guess. I don’t have a grudge against space. Although…  now that I think about it, I might’ve mentioned it in front of her once…”

    “Okay. Thank you for answering, Savanna, this was really helpful.”

Savanna smiled a big smile Trinity hadn’t seen before.

She smiled back.

Inside, Trinity knew something was still missing, a piece of the puzzle. It didn’t make sense to her. Trinity walked back to her bench at the lunch table. 

    “Trinity, the auditions are so close, I’m excited, are you?” Jocelyn asked, animated, as Trinity returned.

    My friendship with Jocelyn is back to normal at least...

    “Yeah, I totally am. Can’t wait!” Trinity answered back after a few seconds.

Trinity put her theory-thought away and packed up everything since lunch was almost over.

    “I’m going to rock this audition. I definitely will,” she told Jocelyn.

    I will.

Chapter 21

Pre-Excitement

“If you are auditioning,  walk down to the theater at 2:45. Everyone else, use your normal schedules,” the announcement over the loudspeakers stated.

Trinity was waiting anxiously the whole entire day for the moment, and it was finally almost here. 

The time was currently 2:30. In fifteen minutes, she’d be in the room where she’d be auditioning.

    Trinity’s teacher announced, “Everyone may begin packing up to go home. All of the kids auditioning, get ready to be called to head down to the theater.”

The kids who were auditioning were either excitedly talking with people nearby them, or, staying quiet and going through the things they’d do at the audition. Trinity was surprised to find herself as one of the students who was chatting; normally she was the quiet girl.

“It’s. Finally. Happening. We’re going to go onto that stage and sing!” Jocelyn said half-like-a-normal-person-

half-like-she’s-going-to-explode.

    “We are! I can’t wait! This is going to be amazing!” Trinity said.

    “Kids auditioning please come to the theater, kids auditioning please come to the theater, thank you.”

Lots of “good lucks” and “you’ll do greats” were passed around from kids who weren’t auditioning.

Nobody said anything to Trinity or Jocelyn.

But, they didn’t care.

Mrs. Dugin introduced herself to everyone as they were walking down the hall. She was one of the judges. She led everyone to a room with a ginormous stage.    

“This is where you all will be auditioning. The judges and I will call you up alphabetically and you will sing your audition song and say the lines you each practiced for your character choice. While you wait, you will be in the adjacent room, right over there. Got it, everyone?” Mrs. Dugin asked. 

Everyone bobbed their heads up and down.

    “Break a leg, all!” Mrs. Dugin said, taking a seat with the other judges.

    “First up, Jacob Arner.” 

Jocelyn and Trinity sat down when they entered the room adjacent. Trinity started to do her homework. 

    “Jocelyn Reed!” the judges called out.

    “It’s my turn. Oh boy,” Jocelyn said nervously. 

    “You’re going to do great, Jocelyn. Now get out there! You can do this!” Trinity said encouragingly. 

Jocelyn walked and walked and walked to the door of the theater. Then, she was gone. Trinity was by herself. 

She continued doing her homework. After about twenty minutes Jocelyn came back to Trinity.

    “How’d it go?” Trinity asked.

    “I think I might get in.”

    “You will for sure!”

    “Trinity Shwartz!”

    “That’s you! Good luck!” Jocelyn said, gripping Trinity’s hand tightly. Trinity nodded and started to walk towards the room.

    “I’m going to do this. I’m going to be Jade.”

Chapter 22

Jitters

    As soon as Trinity walked onto the stage, she froze. She couldn’t believe that she was about to sing. She couldn’t believe she was trying to get into this musical.

    “I’m ready,” Trinity mumbled.

    “Which character are you auditioning for, Trinity?”

    “Um, Jade. I’m going to be singing the song How to be Me,” the “frozen girl” answered softly.

    “Okay. Break a leg. Begin.”

The music started. Trinity never opened her mouth. She couldn’t, nothing was happening. Her mouth wasn’t moving.

Trinity could hear smirks coming from Jen. It sounded like she was happy that Trinity was completely petrified.

    “The Alien bumped her head. It seems she doesn’t remember she doesn’t belong here,” Jen said from backstage, loud enough for Trinity to hear.

I’m not letting that rat get in my head. I do belong.

“Can you, um…restart the music…please? I wasn’t ready, but now I’m good,” Trinity said, glaring at Jen.

The judges thought for a moment, then looked at each other and all nodded. One of the judges motioned to the tech crew to restart the music. 

Trinity started to sing. 

Have you ever gotten lost in the ocean

Incapable for words and its motion

So you dived down

And blocked the sound

Everyone seems to know on how to act

They tell you how to be

Leaving you unable

To react

People say

They say

Many things

That only bring

Questions on why

This is happening

Well, I’m done with blocking out

I’m done with diving down

I’m going to scream and shout

‘Cause I know how to be me

No one can tell me what to do

It’s up to me, no longer you

I’m free

‘Cause no one’s telling me how to be me

Have people been complaining on why you’re so weird

Go check yourself in a mirror

You don’t know where to hide from this awful mess

The only place you can go is where it started

Everyone seems to know on how to act

They tell you how to be

Leaving you unable

To react

They say

Many things

That only bring

Questions on why

This is happening

Well, I’m done with blocking out

I’m done with diving down

I’m going to scream and shout

‘Cause I know how to be me

No one can tell me what to do

It’s up to me, no longer you

I’m free

‘Cause no one’s telling me how to be me

Sometimes the world seems too loud, and just crumples down

Everyone uses you, it’s like your feelings don’t count

But you deserve a say

Anyday

Because your feelings really do count

Every single amount

You have to give people your sound

When the world starts to crumble down

So you can save it

And make it

The way you want it to be

Because no one’s telling me how to be me

Well, I’m done with blocking out

I’m done with diving down

I’m going to scream and shout

‘Cause I know how to be me

No one can tell me what to do

It’s up to me, no longer you

I’m free

‘Cause no one’s telling me how to be me

You have to give people your sound

When the world starts to crumble down

So you can save it

And make it

The way you want it to be

Because no one’s telling me how to be me

Trinity ended by holding the last note for about eight seconds.

The room was silent.

The judges wrote things down, probably about her audition, Trinity assumed.

    “Thank you, Trinity. Now can you recite your lines you practiced?” Mrs. Dugin asked politely.

Trinity bobbed her head up and down, then began to read her lines.   

“Leave me alone, there’s no reason for crushing my dreams! I will do what I want so you can’t change anything. It’s up to me, not you. Why is my life even like this?”

Trinity recited a few more lines until one of the judges told her that it was enough.

    “Thank you Trinity. Luna Turner, you’re up next!”

Luna Turner walked onto the stage and, surprisingly, gave Trinity a thumbs up.

As soon as she returned to the adjacent room, things got quiet. Trinity wasn’t in the mood for stares. Jocelyn hugged her right when she reached their bags.

    “I bet you did awesome! By the way, you’re probably wondering why there was no dance. That’s at the end, I heard. Everyone’s going to do it at the same time.”

    “Cool,” was all Trinity managed to say.

I did it. 

I did it.

I did it.

I did it.

I did it.

It was true, she did do it. She had successfully auditioned without anything getting in her way.

    “I did it,” she finally said out loud.

    I did it.

Chapter 23

Patience

    “TRINITY!” Trinity’s mom yelled.

    “Yes?” she asked patiently.

    “You never told us you’re,” her mom began.

Did she find out about the speech? Jen? 

Her mom continued, “You never told us your new poster started to become unstuck. That’s probably why you’ve been so gloomy. You should probably fix it before it falls on you in your sleep.”

Trinity sighed in relief. She didn’t find out.

    “Yeah, I guess I didn’t. Sorry. I’ll go fix it now.”

    “Okay, good idea.”

Trinity rushed to her room and closed the door. Not to fix the poster, even though it was ready to fall at any moment. Trinity had come to her room to think.

    “Tomorrow, I’m sharing my ‘Change the World’ speech. I can do this. I will do this. I will show the world how I feel.”

    How would the rat put it? Hmm. Oh, maybe she’d go, “I can do this better than you. I will do this better than you. I will show the world how moi is better than you, AND THEY WILL ALL LOVE MOI MORE THAN THEY LOVE TOI.”

 Trinity’s phone began ringing; she was getting a call from Jocelyn.

    “Hey, Jocelyn. What’s up?”

    “Please don’t think this is me lying, it’s true, proof, check the school’s site, it’s really true-”

    “I trust you,” Trinity laughed.

    “YAY! That makes me happy. Anyways, the cast is being posted tomorrow; I heard it’s happening after your speech. Also, on the topic of your speech, did you know it’ll be in the auditorium? What are you going to wear? Is your speech ready? Are you excited?” 

Trinity hadn’t thought about all that stuff. She felt prepared, but was she?

“Okay, I feel I’ve officially made you worried. I’m coming over now.”

“What-” Trinity began but got cut off by a doorbell being rung.

About two seconds later, with no introductions done to Trinity’s parents, Jocelyn and Trinity were in Trinity’s room going through all the details. 

Jocelyn looked at Trinity’s wardrobe and within a minute chose something. 

    “What do you think?” Jocelyn questioned.

    “I think you’re a genius!” Trinity answered excitedly.

    “Thank you, thank you,” Jocelyn said bowing.

They both started to giggle, then plopped themselves onto the bed.

    “Tomorrow is your big day, your second big day after your audition. It’ll be double the big day since the cast is being announced too, so many big days!” Jocelyn said excitedly, at the same time confusing herself a bit. Trinity laughed.

She began thinking about school and her mystery she was trying to solve.

“The piece of the puzzle is still missing,” Trinity said aloud, surprising Jocelyn.

    “What do you mean?”

Trinity decided it was best to just explain her thinking.

    “A piece of the puzzle; the puzzle is Jen. Jen’s always teasing and just being mean to people, I… think they’re connected, I even have a theory but I can’t prove it without one last piece of the puzzle.”

    “Okay…” Jocelyn said, trailing off.

    She’s very confused. For sure.

    Trinity giggled at her realization.

    “What?” Jocelyn asked, very puzzled at this point.

    “Nothing,” Trinity answered.

The girls continued talking until they solved all the world’s problems.

    “Jocelyn, why don’t you stay for dinner? We’d love to have you!” Trinity’s mom suggested to Jocelyn as the sky became darker.

She texted her mom and asked if it was okay. Her mom agreed, so Jocelyn stayed.

Trinity’s family and Jocelyn enjoyed one of Joccelyn’s most favorite foods in the world; homemade pizza. 

Laughs, smiles, even facts, were passed around the dining table.

Jocelyn luckily was very careful in not telling Trinity’s family about what was going on in school, or any of the drama that had happened between them.

Soon, “byes,” and “thanks for coming over,” were being extended to Jocelyn.

    “See you tomorrow at school!”

    “See you!”

Glorious days were soon to come. Trinity was ready for her moment. It was her time to shine.

Chapter 24

You Matter

    Kids were piling up into the auditorium. Trinity was wearing what Jocelyn had chosen the day earlier; a navy blue shirt that read “I love Space!” in white text, with some jeans and black boots.

Trinity remembered to bring her paper with her speech on it, and it was approved by Mrs. Quin the moment Trinity entered the school.

Trinity could see Jocelyn mouthing and gesturing, “FIX YOUR HAIR, NOW!” to Trinity from the front row. Trinity tried her best to ignore Jocelyn, but she ignored her surroundings an incy wincy bit too much. A microphone suddenly appeared in Trinity’s hand and she was told to begin her speech when everyone was seated. To make things easier, the cue Trinity was counting on to save herself from ultimate humiliation would be when the principal would be telling everyone to quiet.

Time went by, and soon everyone was seated.

    “Everyone, be quiet! Shhh!”

Trinity stepped up on the podium. She knew she was not going to freeze in front of everyone. 

Trinity opened her mouth; this time words came out.

    “Hi, I’m Trinity Shwartz. What is something you’re tired of watching happen, something you want to stop from commencing? Something I’d like to change in the world is bullying. People get put down and feel they need to change themselves to impress, but in the end just get laughed at more. People change the best things about themselves just because the bully told them to. But what they do doesn’t keep them from being bullied. It makes the bully feel powerful, yeah. 

But the victims? What happened to them? Nothing helps in getting back what you lose. But we have to stay strong and keep going, no matter what anyone says, or so people say. What’s wrong with the bully? Nothing? Do people who say to ‘let it go’ know how it feels? The feeling of being told to change, changing into someone you’re not? It’s not fun. I know because that’s something I’ve faced. I’ve let people get in my head, I’ve tried to change and be someone who I’m not. But in the end I will always be myself, Trinity Shwartz, and I’m not going to be someone else. Everyone needs to come together to support those who get so down, up isn’t a direction they know. They feel they don’t matter. They do, though. No one can tell you what to look like. No one can tell you how to act. No one can tell you what to like and what not to. No one can tell you how to be you. Thank you.”

Just like that Trinity’s speech was over. She was expecting people to find her speech boring, but instead, everyone was clapping and cheering for her. 

For me. 

Trinity smiled as a few happy tears slid down her cheek. It was the very first time she had ever cried happy tears.

“That was Trinity Shwartz’s speech! Everyone give her another round of applause!” Mrs. Quin said, coming over to the podium.

Trinity could see Jen, Lucy, Kelly, everyone in Jen’s friend group. They all were frowning, looking like they wanted to leave. 

The crowd left probably to go back to class, or so Trinity assumed.

She began to leave too, when out of nowhere, Jocelyn ran up to her. She gave Trinity her biggest hug yet; Trinity’s lungs were not happy.

“You. Are. AMAZING!!! I would never be able to do that, did you know, you were so inspiring! Your writing is just beautiful, and like soooooooooooooooooooo relatable! I’d never have the talent you have Trinity! Never!” Jocelyn said, jumping up and down.

“Thanks so much! I bet you do have the talent. You're more amazing!”

“I don’t think so.”

Trinity and Jocelyn walked out of the auditorium to find a huge crowd hovering over something.

What, though?

Chapter 25

Cast

    “What the…” Trinity said running over towards the crowd.

    “The cast list is posted! It really is!” an excited person said in a high-pitched voice.

Trinity couldn’t believe it was posted. She desperately wanted to see which roles she and Jocelyn got.

No one was budging to give them room to see, though. Trinity and Jocelyn would have to wait for some people to leave in order to see the list.

    “Jocelyn! Seems you’re alive even after the destructive tornado took you for a spin!” someone said.

    “Hi, Rose. Seems you’ve started to care about me. I don’t want your sympathy, though. I’ve got a real and true friend now.”

    “Rose?” Trinity asked Jocelyn with huge eyes.

    “I told you about the girls who ditched me, right? Well, she’s one of them,” Jocelyn answered through clenched teeth.

A bunch of kids slumped away,  giving Trinity and Jocelyn a chance to finally see the cast list.”

“Jocelyn, we can check the list now, there’s an open space!” Trinity pointed out to Jocelyn, dragging her away from her evil staring match with Rose.

“Let’s go, Trin. I don’t even want to be within spitting distance of Rose. If I don’t get out of here, things are going to get suuuuuuuuuuuuuuper messy.”

Trinity nodded, a bit concerned. They both looked at each other and walked to the cast list.

They were both equally shocked.

    “I… didn’t get her. Jade.” Trinity said, she felt like crying.

    “What do you mean? It says Trinity right over there!” Jocelyn said laughing, realizing Trinity was looking at the understudy list.

    “What? Really? Oh. My. Goodness. I got the lead!!! I’m Jade! I’m really Jade, I…I can’t believe this! WAHOOOOOOO!” Trinity practically shouted, stumbling on a few words with her excitement. It was as if it was impossible for Trinity to contain excitement.

Then, to make things even better, Trinity read what Jen’s role was. A tree. 

Trinity couldn’t stop laughing, until she read what Jocelyn was cast as.

Ensemble member.

    “I’m so so so so so so so so so so so sooooooo sorry,” Trinity began. “I wish you got cast. If you want, I could give up my role to the understudy.”

    “Don’t. I’m not letting my best friend quit when she was chosen to be the lead. You were meant for the role, Trinity, you are Jade. Besides, the fact that I'll still see you when we have rehearsals is amazing. So, don’t even think about it.”

    “You're more amazing-er.”

Trinity and Jocelyn gladly walked away from the list, smiling. 

Jocelyn had found out that her best friend got the lead.

And Trinity?

She finally knew where to find the missing piece of the puzzle that she had been looking for for ages; all she had to do was interrogate the suspect.

    “Attention, everyone! The cast list is posted. During lunch, I want everyone who auditioned to come to the theater with your lunches. If you are buying your lunch, then go to the lunchroom first, obviously, but then come to the theater. We will be discussing many things like tech crew, rehearsals, costumes, schedules, all of that stuff. If you cannot make it for any reason, then please let me know before then,” Mrs. Dugin said over the loudspeakers.

Trinity was excited to learn more about the musical, and all of the details about the musical. Jocelyn was too. Even if she was in the ensemble, she and Trinity were, in the end, still together.

That’s what mattered, to Trinity and Jocelyn at least.

Trinity was walking up to her locker when all of a sudden she heard someone crying. The sound was coming from near the water fountain, so Trinity decided to explore. She motioned to Jocelyn to get to her class and that she’d meet her there. Trinity walked over and found out who was upset and crying. 

When she realized who it was, she tried her best to not scream.    

Chapter 26

The Truth

    “Jen? Why are you crying?” Trinity asked, surprisingly enough, soothingly.

    “W-why does i-it matter to you?” Jen answered, hiccuping on a few words.

    Jen must’ve been crying for a while. What’s her problem?

    “I want to help,” Trinity answered, longing for her shaky voice to help her comfort Jen.

    “Go away, Alien. I don’t need your help, you can’t do anything.”

Believe me, you need my help. AND STOP CALLING ME ALIEN.

    “Jen, we have our differences, but, if you tell me what’s wrong, I could help.”

    “How?! You can’t bring him back!” Jen shouted loudly at Trinity. Trinity was glad no teachers noticed.

    “Him? Who’s him?” Trinity entreated.

    “You're not leaving me alone so I might as well tell you my problem. That might make you leave.”

    “Okay,” Trinity said, glad that Jen was finally going to tell her.

“The him I was talking about was my uncle. He was an astronaut.” Jen began.

Was, was the word that made Trinity understand the whole story without even hearing it. But she let Jen continue.

    “When I was six, he was going to fly into space…I was so intrigued, I even wanted to go with him and see the stars. The unknown. If I went with him, I wouldn’t be here. His ship broke down. He and his crewmates didn’t have enough time left to fix it, I guess, ‘cause now he’s gone. GONE!” Jen started to cry even more.

    “We played so many games together…even created a little handshake. I still remember it. There’s no one to do it with now,” Jen spoke throughout her sobs.

Trinity couldn’t imagine losing someone so close. She actually felt sorry for Jen…she never ever ever ever ever ever ever ever ever ever thought she’d feel sorry for Jen. Ever.

“Is that why you don’t like space? The unknown?” Trinity asked.

    “My family hates it when I talk about my uncle. Being the only child, no one’s there to comfort my parents but me. When my mom’s sulking, I’d make her feel better. When my dad’s depressed, I’d do the same…but when I’m sad…I’m all alone. It’s how things have been,” Jen said quietly.

Trinity didn’t know what to say, but all she knew was that she wanted to help in some way. In any way.

    “Just go away, I don’t need you Infinity,” Jen continued, pushing Trinity away.

    “Loser, go away!” Lucy chanted along with Jen’s gang. They all tried to push Trinity to leave, so she did. She went to her next class.

Chapter 27

Clear Out the Way

    Lunch period had finally begun. Trinity told Jocelyn about her encounter with Jen. Jocelyn was astonished to hear what Trinity had discovered. 

When Trinity entered the theater she saw Jen at the very corner. Trinity noticed that Jen’s face looked very damp. 

Lucy and Kelly were the only ones accompanying Jen; the rest of Jen’s gang weren’t there.

    “Good afternoon, everyone! I’m Mr. Wilson! I’m sure you all recognize me from when we first announced the musical. I am so happy with the numbers of auditions we saw; you all have so much talent! By now, you all should know what you have been cast as. There’s no doubt that you all have talent, but first you all need to go back to the basics of learning how to work together,” Mr. Wilson said, turning off the lights. He projected a video about how some people lived a life that relied on listening to others. 

Trinity could hear Jen, Lucy, and Kelly walking up and trying to scare her, but Trinity startled them instead.

    “What do you want now?” Trinity said in the best whisper-type of voice she could manage.

    “Nothing,” Kelly said as she gently kicked something.

    “Hey! That’s my lunchbox! Jen, even after trying to help you, you tell your not-so-nice friends to do this?” Trinity said, subduing her anger while running after her lunch that was slowly sliding down the aisle.

    “You can't help, Alien. You’re an alien. You shouldn’t even be here, I bet the judges only gave you the lead because they knew you’d start sobbing if you didn’t!” Jen shouted, getting everyone’s attention…including the teachers.

    “Like you…” Trinity said in a voice quiet enough for only Jen to hear.

    “Jen Alopes! Come here right this second! Lucy, Kelly, you too!” one of the teachers yelled.

Jocelyn ran after Trinity and gave her a huge “what-just-happened- did-I-miss-something-very-big?” expression.

Trinity just smiled in response.

Jen, Lucy, and Kelly were all escorted to the principal’s office. 

They have a ton of explaining to do. 

Trinity finally understood why everything that happened, happened. She had finally solved the puzzle.

    “Okay, you're smiling a lot, you must tell me what’s going on inside your amazing head,” Jocelyn pleaded.

Trinity decided she might as well not leave Jocelyn hanging on the end of a thread.

    “Jen, Lucy, Kelly…they don’t care how others feel, it doesn’t matter to them how others might be feeling. But, when one of them is sad or upset, they try to cover it up. Sometimes they blame other people for their sadness. Jen said I probably was chosen because, if I wasn’t, I’d cry a lot. Jen was crying because she remembered her uncle…but also because she didn’t get the lead. She wanted to be Jade. She felt like she needed to be Jade. Every instance she thinks she’s right, she’s been proved wrong. I proved her wrong…and she just chose the wrong time to pick a fight,” Trinity explained.

    “Wow,” said someone Trinity didn’t recognize. 

At that very second, Trinity realized she had just explained her theory to almost the whole seventh grade. All the teachers had left to escort Jen, Lucy, and Kelly to the principal’s office.

    “I can’t believe I thought Jen was cool!” one of Jen’s gang members said.

Who knows? Maybe Jen would lose all her friends after this, especially Lucy and Kelly. Unless they all get expelled... 

“That makes total sense now,” Jocelyn said, finally understanding.

    “It does?” Trinity asked, blushing because a lot of kids agreed with Jocelyn.

    “Trinity Shwartz, I think you are very accomplished,” Jocelyn said happily.

Murmurs of agreeance spread throughout the room. 

Trinity didn’t do anything else but smile.

Epilogue

Diary Entry

Sitting at her desk, Trinity made some space to put down her diary. 

After Trinity got the lead role, she had to tell Tom. Tom told her parents and they insisted on celebrating…with Jocelyn, of course. Trinity told her parents everything. She told them about her first day of school, Jen’s gang, and her speech. 

Jocelyn made sure to be right by Trinity’s side the whole time. 

Trinity was pleased.

Trinity’s parents were surprised to learn what Trinity had been going through. They were glad Trinity told them, but disappointed that she didn’t let them in. In response, Trinity explained how dealing with Jen by herself had helped her gain confidence. That was probably why her parents agreed to let it slide.

Trinity flipped to the first clean page that she saw in her diary. A lot of the pages were full. Picking up a pencil, Trinity began to write. She wrote, and wrote. She didn’t stop. 

Trinity’s story was waiting to be told.

Dear Diary,

People have feelings. People have traits, personalities, things that drive them to be who they are. I’m still finding out who I am, but everyone thinks I’m someone brave and someone who has a sense of right and wrong. I’m not so sure if that’s right, but so far I haven’t rejected that thought. 

Jen had many chances right in front of her to show who she really was. But she was hurt in such a way that she decided to ignore those chances. Jen gained the power to make people fear her, and it worked. I was scared of her at first, like others. But then I realized someone had to stop her. She picked on me and called me Infinity or Alien from planet Mars (it's one of my favorite planets by the way)

I didn’t care about what Jen did. I knew change would come if you stood tall. 

No one should feel pressured that they’re not good enough, because they are. I learned that, in order to survive, people turn into a lesser version of who they really are.

“Be you,” is a common phrase that’s spread around the world, but people don’t really listen to it. Some don’t even take it seriously, but it has a lot of meaning to it.

Jen, Lucy and Kelly came back from the principal’s office and began getting their bags. I overheard that Lucy and Kelly tried to put all the blame on Jen. I feel bad for Jen not having her crew to help her out of the situation, but I mean the whole scenario where Jen thought she could take over the entire seventh grade WASSSSS Jen’s idea… 

If you’re mean and treat people harshly, you’re not always going to have your pals on your side. They might not even then be considered pals! When I first came to this school I thought it would be the same as Pittsburgh, where everyone would either ignore me or call me names…but when I came here, to be honest, I felt a spark ignite in me. 

The spark was telling me to go and save the misunderstood kids in seventh grade. Assumptions hurt, and I’m guessing every new kid before me thought that the whole grade was as mean as Jen. I now know that was a very bad assumption…I’ve met people in this school like Jocelyn, who are super supportive. Nothing like Jen.

While the spark helped me on my journey, it taught me some important things:

No one can tell me what to look like.

No one can tell me how to act.

No one can tell me what to like and dislike.

No one can tell me how to be me.

Yours truly,

Trinity